27 July, 2006
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis on Wednesday met with state-owned China Ocean Shipping (Group) Co. (COSCO) president Wei Jiafu. The two men discussed matters related to the exploitation of natural resources, as well as the development of seaborne transport, aimed at rendering the Greek ports a basic transit hub in the region of the southeastern Mediterranean.
Jiafu said that ships would be built, on behalf of COSCO, at Greek shipyards.
A direct link between the port of Piraeus with the Far East and China was inaugurated in April aboard the Panama-flagged "River Elegance", the first COSCO container ship to dock at Piraeus, where it unloaded 580 containers at the port's container terminal.
The use of Piraeus, the east Mediterranean's largest port, by COSCO was the result of the meeting between COSCO representatives and Merchant Shipping Minister Manolis Kefaloyannis in February and Karamanlis official visit to China in January where he had also met with Jiafu, during which meeting it had been announced that a container ship with a capacity of 9,500 containers would be routed within the year, and would be named COSCO HELLAS.
The use of Piraeus, the east Mediterranean's largest port, by COSCO was the result of the meeting between COSCO representatives and Merchant Shipping Minister Manolis Kefaloyannis in February and Karamanlis official visit to China in January where he had also met with Jiafu, during which meeting it had been announced that a container ship with a capacity of 9,500 containers would be routed within the year, and would be named COSCO HELLAS.
Source: Athens News Agency